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General News of Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2019-03-26
A view of the bus station
Truck drivers who crisscross the Teshie-Nungua-Tema Beach continue to jostle at the expense of pbadengers, at the expense of pedestrian safety, while a newly built bus terminal at Nungua, in the municipality of Krowor at Accra, stay closed.
The terminal, built for a cost of 5.4 million GH ¢, has not yet been opened, a few months after its completion.
The president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, inaugurated the facility in December 2018, during her visit to the municipality as part of her Greater Accra regional tour.
The closure of the facility, which can accommodate no less than 200 vehicles at a time, has forced some commercial drivers to create unauthorized loading points along the Nungua main road.
For years, many commercial vehicle drivers had converted designated bus stops along the route into loading points, a situation that initially influenced the authorities' decision to build the terminal to limit the practice.
Worried drivers
During random interviews, some of the drivers expressed their concern over the delay of the badembly to open the bus terminal in order to protect their operations in the region.
Some of them said that, even though they were aware that their activities on the main road were contrary to the highway code, the absence of officially designated zone for the care of pbadengers was at the origin of their actions.
"There is no big area to load or drop pbadengers. We are obliged not to respect the traffic rules because we can not move with empty vehicles, "complained Nii Aryee Armah, a commercial bus driver.
Another driver, Samuel Asare, said: "The staff of the Traffic and Motorized Transport Directorate (MTTD) of the Police Service regularly makes raids and stops us. At least they should understand that there is no dedicated area for loading pbadengers. "
The drivers therefore appealed to the Krowor Municipal Assembly (KROMA) for it to urgently open the facilities.
They also invited the badembly to involve them thoroughly in the management of the facility to ensure a fair distribution of space.
Bus Terminal
The project, part of the Transportation Sector Project (TSP) of the Urban Roads Department (DUR), was funded by the World Bank.
It includes a spacious bus terminal, office space, sanitary facilities, among others.
The expansion and paving of some of the outlying roads in Nungua was part of the project.
The construction company China Jiangxi Engineering Ghana Limited (CJEGL), which worked on the project, began its work in February 2018 and completed the construction of the terminal and other facilities located in November 2018.
When the Daily Graphic visited the project site last Monday, it found that the bus terminal had been locked.
The painted walls were damaged as a result of the activities of many merchants who had seized the area to conduct successful business.
KROMA explains
When contacted, KROMA's Municipal Works Engineer, Mr. John Tsikor, explained that the delay in opening the facilities was the result of the need to create an additional entrance to the terminal in order to avoid congestion. .
He added that work on the additional input was underway, adding that it would be completed very soon, after which the badembly would begin to work.
DUR development engineer William Donkor, who was also contacted, is surprised that the facility remains closed to drivers.
He added that the DUR had twice called on the badembly to begin operations in the facility in order to reduce the rate of violation of the Highway Code by traffic on the main road.
"We have finished our work. It is up to the badembly to see how it will manage the facilities, "he said.
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